Building of a hierarchy of wines based on terroirs: an initiative from the producers of Muscadet

Stems may bring various benefits to the wine such as alcoholic reduction, color protection or improvement of the tannic intensity.

Pinot noir is an interesting vat variety for the high quality products it provides in the most suitable areas. In France, the most important Pinot Noir growing areas are Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace and the Loire. In Italy, Pinot Noir is grown almost exclusively in the northern regions of Trentino-Alto Adige, Lombardy and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Herbicides are commonly sprayed in the vine row to prevent competition with vines for water and minerals and to keep weeds from growing into the bunch zone. Sprays are applied before budbreak and reapplied multiple times during the season to keep the undervine bare. There is growing concern about the negative effects of herbicides on humans and the environment, and weeds in New Zealand have developed resistance to herbicides. Therefore, it is imperative that we reduce our reliance on herbicides in viticulture and incorporate methods that do not engender resistance.

The grape maturation process is being affected by the consequences of global climate change and, as a result, there is a gap at harvest time between the technological maturity of grapes (mostly the concentration of sugar and acids) and its phenolic quality. Due to this gap, the wines elaborated using those grapes show a non-adequate phenolic composition, which results in defects on its color and astringency characteristics. Astringency is mainly related to the salivary protein precipitation because of the interaction not only with wine flavanols but also with other wine phenolics, such as flavonols or different pigments.

Postharvest losses of fruits may reach in some cases 40% in developed countries. This food waste has a significant carbon footprint and makes a major contribution toward greenhouse gas emissions so sustainable postharvest strategies are being investigated.
Melatonin, a well-known mammalian neurohormone, has been investigated as a priming agent to slow down fungal decay progression in postharvest climacteric and some non-climacteric fruits. However, the molecular and metabolic mechanisms responsible for such enhancement of disease tolerance are largely unknown.